Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1887-01-06
GABaIE e. sAYLEs.
rrem tho uine.np III sun.

Al the hotel yesterday was a gen.
tleman from Delaware, whose home
WAS not far from the Maryland line.
The talk turning on Christmas, he In.
quired:
ibid you ever hear Of Gabriel
Saylesi"
"No; who was her came from the |
party sitting round.
"A very odd character, who lived |
lust after the Revolutionary war, In
| the part Of the country where / was
raised. Tradition still tells many
stories of this curious man. of whom
the people of his own time knew so
Hit Q. He owned many slaves, who
were worse treated, or the best cared
for, Of any In the county, according to
1.-THE whims of the master. To the
present day the grave Of Gabriel
ISayles Is pointed out to the passer-by.
HE lies buried between two holly
trees, which he planted with his own
Hands, the grave being north and
south. He explained that every fool
Twas laid cas-, and west and he pre-
|fcrrcd to rest cross-ways of the world.
ale had his coffin made open at
both ends and jug Of whisky put at
1.-THE head and pound OF plug tobacco
LAT the foot"
"What was all this for"
.Hc said If the devil came in one
. way he would stop for drink and II he
. came In the other way he would stop
|. for a chew. In either case Gabriel
Iwould have time TO get out"
1 t.h Iah al
"Yes. but 1t was Christmas trick
: Iplanned upon him by his own slaves
THAT was about To tell you"
Lets have it,"
1.-THE custom throughout all that
Icountry was to give holiday from
IChristmas Eve to the day after New
Years; no work was done on any
\ harm during the intervening period,
o Except feeding the stock and other in
Indispensable labor. Servants that
were hired LEFT their old homes Christ
mas Eve and reported at the new ones
= lon New Years day, and those that re-
mained with the same master were
tree 10 occupy their time in their own
O. way during this period OF general fes-
erltivity.
81 But Gabriel Sayles did not do
Things as other people did, and of
:, Icourse couldn't give his slaves holi-
a Iday, while those Of other farmers were
I lenjoying it.
ri He had a different rule, which had
Ibeen followed for many years with
Igreat satisfaction to himself. but not TO
..Thoae . p .o ,.v. OF ,ho ,ro.,
Ier. ,iaoas - 10 oa5 tor ,Io
E. II,,oi'an a.. 80 ~, ah,,t 10 ia,c,l,
ri ~ r, n'e u"s ", 49," 49, va. - -
-, ~, ha. anu y. ~ -, N g.
= you ,nus' , na.oa gu Inv" 'os. ~"
pl,cIs iu,e ~, was 20 sI'e ,ne 'ei aus ms,
h nuay =. Smll''''a' 10 ons 20 49, 80
Dos "ouiu uuin. uay y, 81 De'o'e
. oni.'as "o ~ou,u ea.i 'ne wy W
5e,.e' anu oe,, uo,n " eeie., I'm IN,
y .,S W 20 'o' i's, anu .no 'os
a, "ou," see so"u uea' Va P'oaeu'e o"'
oi uhe ehoi' 10 hho green QUO INA,
IS "ouiu ourh 8oou WINE, anu a'l
noher was gwen inc cohhthit1se ula'
4 "ouiu ,iiu iog INA. "ouiu JUN
of iohser thah any one had ever burned
= before. Sometlmes very fortunate
!. communities wouid secure 10Y 'iiat
t%
! uabriels hot hre anu constant punch
a ing. bi' hnaiiy the boys ieli upon a
r plan That settled the log question Tor
all lime To come"
nat was mr.
h In the neighborhood was coiored
:. carpenter who had learned that locust
), WOOD became stone after being buried
IN salt marsh about seven years, ana
Y lie had concluded that years soak-
ID ing would put backlog in nice shape
o. Tor Gabriel $ holiday trinl. So. with.
out saying anything, he cut good
locust tree, rolled the butt log 10 the
:. marsh and buried II. Nothing was
y said about the object till more than a
year afterward, when the carpenters
son was selected one of the committee
y 10 obtain the log They brought the
half-pclritied mass from the marsh and
- rolled it ON the fire with the usual
ceremonies
1.-The prins of the slaves were much
u broader Than usual and Gabriel,s face
Imuch longer as the bows started on,
!. for the Christmas festivities and The